Canon · Early Modern (1500–1800)

Philadelphia Plan

1682 · United States · North America · Mercantile grids and real-estate urbanism · Planned by William Penn & Thomas Holme
Thomas Holme's 1683 'A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia' — the original engraved grid plan of Philadelphia laid out by William Penn and Thomas Holme (planned 1682), the first printed map of an
Thomas Holme's 1683 'A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia' — the original engraved grid plan of Philadelphia laid out by William Penn and Thomas Holme (planned 1682), the first printed map of an · public-domain

Core idea

Orthogonal plan with five parks

Why it matters

Early American model to curb fire/congestion

Description

William Penn and surveyor Thomas Holme laid out Philadelphia in 1682 between two rivers as a generous gridiron of broad, regular streets punctuated by five public squares, conceived after London's plague and fire as a healthy, fire-resistant 'greene country towne.'

Significance

Philadelphia's plan was hugely influential in North America: the rational grid plus public squares became the default template for countless American cities. It linked the grid not to speculation alone but to an ideal of open, healthy, ordered settlement.

What became of it

Realised and enduring; the grid and its five squares remain the framework of central Philadelphia, with the central square now occupied by City Hall.

What shaped it

Plans it influenced

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.